SC to hear plea against appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi top cop

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Thursday a plea against the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner. The petition has Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Ministry of Home Affairs as respondents.
A two-member bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Surya Kant is expected to hear this matter on August 5.
In the plea, petitioner Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma stated that the appointment of the Delhi top cop violates the 2018 Supreme Court order that said the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) should, as far as practical, consider only officials with two years of service left.
“The respondent no.1 (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is the head of the ACC and respondent no.2 (Amit Shah) is the Minister of Home Affairs who jointly decided and done impugned appointment against the judgment of the Supreme Court. Hence, they are party to this for contempt of court,” the plea read.
The petition contended that Asthana’s appointment came just days before his retirement on 31 July, which gave him an extension of one year.
It said the appointment is in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the Prakash Singh case, which “clearly lays down that no individual who has less than six months of service left, can be considered for appointment as head of a police force anywhere in the country”.